This disclosure relates generally to online systems, and more specifically to presenting content to online system users.
Online systems, such as social networking systems, allow users to connect to and to communicate with other users of the online system. Users create profiles on an online system that are tied to their identities and include information about the users, such as interests and demographic information. The users may be individuals or entities such as corporations or charities. Because of the increasing popularity of online systems, and the significant amount of user specific information maintained by online systems, an online system provides an ideal forum for users to easily communicate information about themselves to other users and share content with other users. For example, users may share their interests with other users by posting content to the online system that is subsequently maintained by the online system and presented to additional users. Content provided to the online system by a user may be declarative information provided by a user, status updates, check-ins to locations, images, photographs, videos, text data, or any other information a user wishes to share with additional users of the online system.
An online system also allows users to deliver, access, or interact with various applications provided by the online system or by third party systems via the online system. Many third party systems provide applications that exchange information with online systems to leverage the popularity of online systems and provide users with enhanced application functionality, while increasing a number of users capable of interacting with the applications. For example, many computer games interface with an online system, allowing online system users to share in gameplay with additional online system users and to communicate with each other regarding in-game actions. Additionally, leveraging the large amounts of descriptive information an online system maintains about its users allows an application to provide a broader range of functionality and allows an entity associated with the application (e.g., a third party system, the online system) to better identify users who are likely to interact with the application.
An entity providing an application, such as a third party system or an online system, often requests information about a user who is installing an application to enhance the user's interactions with the application. For example, a user completes a registration process when installing an application that provides the entity providing the application with information describing the user. For example, an application allows a user to register to use the application by providing information about the user, such as demographic information, which the application uses to provide an experience tailored for the user. As a specific example, a computer game with which a user has registered presents the user with characters in the game that share certain demographic traits with the user. Receiving information from the user also allows an entity associated with the application to maintain data for identifying characteristics of additional users who may be interested in the application as well as data identifying usage of the application by various users. For example, providing certain information describing users installing and using the application allows an entity associated with the application to improve functionality of the application or to identify characteristics of users likely to interact with the application.
However, many users often do not complete a registration process when installing or using an application in some circumstances, such as when the registration process occurs at an inopportune time. For example, if a user is invited provide information via a registration process after the application has been installed on a client device and is ready for use, the user often opts to immediately use the application without completing the registration process. While information typically requested during an application registration process is information that is commonly stored on an online system (e.g., in association with a user's profile on the online system), many users specify privacy settings to the online system that prevent the online system from sharing the information stored by the online system with the application without the user's explicit permission. For example, privacy settings enforced by an online system to protect a user's privacy prevent the online system from freely sharing information describing the user with the application or with other entities. Accordingly, an application or an entity associated with the application may not receive information associated with a user that would improve the user's interaction with the application.